Each year I try to take a skiing holiday with my wife. We have tried to make it an annual event for the past twenty five years.  In latter times, instead of buying new skis every couple of years we have rented so that we can keep up to date with the technology without the investment.  Not every ski rental company is the same however.

Fitting ski boots is a specialist task.  Many ski rental companies carry a limited range of boots for hire and try to sqeeze their customers into "nearest fit" or "one size fits all" boots. The consequence of this is sore feet and shins at the end of the day, and a miserable skiing experience by the end of the week.

Imagine the pleasure therefore, when after a break of four years from visiting out favourite ski resort, we visited our usual ski rental company to be greeted by friendly knowlegeable staff who were able to find our old records on their computer system with the exact fit and setting details for boots and skis for my wife and myself.  Nothing was too much trouble. Comfort was the key. Updates on new ski technology was offered and enquiries about whether skiing style or proficiency had changed. There was also an offer of ski or boot exhange if we were unhappy or wanted to try something different. Oh, and you could also pass your skis back in for any day you didn't want to ski and this would be deducted from your account.

You will realise of course that in ski resorts there are many companies trying to rent you equipment. We found this company ten years ago and keep going back to them. Why, because nothing is too much trouble. And they see hundreds of customers every day.

So the moral here is this:

Even though you may sell the same goods or services as your competitors, the thing that will differentiate your business above all others in your line of business is the experience you deliver to your customers. This experience doesn't just happen, it's designed to happen.  It happens through how your place of business is presented, how your staff are trained to deal with customers and their knowlege about what they sell, and much, much more. If you haven't done so for a while, take a step back from your business and look at it from the outside, from the customer's perspective, and ask yourself, "would I like to shop here?"

And by the way, the $20 voucher they gave me for renting went towards a very nice pair of ski gloves from their retail store that cost more than I intended to spend!

Johnothan Farrington always has something pertinent to say on his blog Leadership Turn.  Today's post is particularly worthy as it addresses an area that many businesses don't handle well - customer complaints.

The short summary at the end of the post reads as follows:

Complaints Are Opportunities:

Opportunities to do what?

• Evaluate how well you are doing
• Identify weak points in your system and processes and put them right
• See situations from the customer’s point of view
• Improve customer satisfaction
• Create long-term loyalty – handling disgruntled customers well often leaves them feeling more positive about your organisation than before.

What system do you have for handling customer complaints in your business?  Is it documented and easy to follow?  Do you have a person in your business dedicated to customer care?

Remember, a customer is not just a single transaction.  A customer is a lifetime of transactions if treated well. It costs less to keep an existing customer than it does to win a new one. 

To read the complete article click on the following link:

http://www.leadershipturn.com/complaints-are-opportunities/

This is very sound advice for all business owners.

One of the great experiences of my life happened when a friend who owned a café created an Opera night.  This night was made memorable by not only the food, wine and ambience that was created, but also the absolutely spine tingling magnificence of the singing.

One of the Opera singers that night was Simon O’Neill.  At that time he was waiting tables to pay for his singing lessons.  Today he is understudy to Placido Domingo at New York’s Metropolitan Opera.  Simon is due to perform for one night in Auckland and todays New Zealand Herald features an article on him http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=274&objectid=10456588.

In the article Simon talks about his conductor for his latest production Wagner’s Ring.  Simon talks of his relationship with the conductor for this production, Antonio Pappano.

An excerpt from todays New Zealand Herald:

“It was Pappano's baton which guided O'Neill as Florestan two months ago.”

"He's terrifying," is the answer when asked what the high-flying conductor is like to work with, "but he is also so kind. He wants more than you feel you can give, which is a good thing ultimately. He wants more legato, more tone, more piano, more dolce, more depth, more declamation.

"He is with you all the time."

What is the relevance of this? 

Well as coaches we aspire to be like Pappano, where we are a stand for our client’s success, and we are asking more of our clients than they believe they have to give. 

We want more insights, more systemic thinking, more inspiration, more excellent execution, more learning and growth.  Our role as coach is to set high standards and continue to demand that of our clients so that often they surprise themselves by producing results that they never thought possible.  Our role is to “be with you all the time”.

It takes something to set the standards of Pappano.  It is much easier to go with the “good enough” which is comfortable. To get to the highest level however, requires you to get out of your comfort zone and to push the boundaries.

If there's one thing that always irritates me its those extra charges that businesses put on their invoices to cover costs that should already be part of their pricing.  You know the sort of thing; statement charge, postage and packaging, cheque charge, and so on.

Think about it. If you add up all those charges that they collect from all their customers, you can get quite a healthy sum. And for what benefit to the customer?

Now I am as aware of the arguments offered for these charges as well as anyone.  For my sins I spent thirty something years in accountancy.  I also recognise that there are legitmate cases where these extra charge can be claimed, especially where the cost of delivery from store to customers is high, and the customer has the option of arranging their own pickup. But its those little extras that make me mad.

To me those small items are just part of the cost of running a business.  The business should therefore include these costs in their calculations when prices are set. 

In the case of the statement charge noted above, this was in addition to a healthy commission deduction for the collection of some rentals.  And those cheque charges.  I have seen customers offer a credit card instead, for which the cost to the business is higher and the charges are unable to passed on as an extra. The point here is this:

Each time a business annoys a customer by the addition of silly little extra charges which are for the benefit of the business only and not the customer, they are sending negative messages to customers that could cause them to take their business elsewhere.  It might seem a minor thing to the business, but it can cause a major reaction with customers.

Just think, if a twentyfive cent cheque charge can send a customer elsewhere, how much in future customer lifetime sales value could be lost to the business?

One the first things I do each morning is to check for new blog posts for blogs that I subscribe to.  One blog that I always get real value from is Carmine Coyote's Slow Leadership Blog.  This post on Time and Effort Saving Ideas for Busy People particularly caught my attention.

So you've had a great year.  Sales are up, profits are up and your customers are ecstatic about the levels of service that your business delivers.  It's the culmination of all the hard work and money you've put into your business over the years.  You're feeling very pleased with yourself. 

But wait a minute.  Did you do it all by yourself?  If you are a one person business then you probably did, but not necessarily.

Even the very smallest of businesses has to rely on others for all kinds of inputs required to deliver satisfaction to customers.  If you are a tiny business, you reward your suppliers and contractors by paying the agreed rate on time, as promised.

However, if your business employs other people to do some of the work, they are part of the successful outcomes that your business delivers.  The results of your business are the product of actions by everyone who works there.

Sure, they get rewarded by the payment of wages and the occasional pat on the back.  But is that the only share of the cake they will receive?

In ancient times, when the view of the world was much smaller than it is now and resources were believed to be finite, everyone shared in the production of food and the necessities of life, and everyone shared in the results according to their needs.  This was because resources were scarce and care for one's neighbour and community was required as a matter of survival.

In today's world this community view appears to have been largely lost, with the prevailing culture being "everone for himself".

But no man is an island.  Whether we like it or not, everyone still depends on someone else to ensure his or her survival.  It's just the way the world works.

So when you have had a bumper year, how will you share the spoils in a way that reflects the contribution others have made to your business?

Hi everyone, we have a new website and blog!

Enterprise Leadership New Zealand Limited is finally "on the air" with a new website and blog.

The journey to this stage has involved a lot of reorganisation.  Enterprise Leadership New Zealand Limited previously traded as Business Development Academy Limited.  In those days we represented Michael Gerber's E-Myth Worldwide organisation in New Zealand as Certified E-Myth Coaches.  However, as a result of changes at E-Myth Worldwide we had to find a new content provider so we could continue to offer quality business coaching service to the New Zealand small business community.

We have been fortunate to become members of the Alliance for Enterprise Leadership Inc.(AEL), a growing worldwide group of former E-Myth coaches who are determined to continue to offer a world class coaching system to small business owners wherever they be.  As foundation members of AEL we are closely connected to the production of the programs we use with clients and are able to contibute to the development of our own Full Spectrum Business Development program, lead by Alex Alexander who was lead author of the highly regarded E-Myth Mastery Program.

In our website we bring the essense of the Full Spectrum Business Development Program to your attention so that you can decide whether or not to take the next steps to finding out whether it can work for you.

This blog will be used to bring items of interest to you in a less formal way.  It will include observations on everyday business practices, comments on useful business books we have read, and links to useful tips and resources found in other blogs and on the net. It will also contain announcements that we think may be of interest to small business owners in New Zealand and Australia in particular, and the wider small business community in general.  All in the spirit of sharing tips and topics to make all of our businesses better.

We are looking forward to leading the way.